Dr Güneş Taylor; The University of Edinburgh
Dr Güneş Taylor is a Chancellor’s Fellow within the Centre of Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, Trustee of the UK Genetics Society, and an award-winning science communicator and public speaker. Funded by the BBSRC and Rosetrees Trust, Güneş’ independent research programme seeks to serve female health and fertility needs by uncovering the molecular mechanisms depleting the finite reserve of ovarian follicles. The gradual depletion of the ovarian reserve results in menopause or, if accelerated, in premature ovarian failure / infertility. Specifically, her work focuses on establishing and modulating the gene regulatory networks driving primordial follicle activation, the process driving ovarian reserve depletion, in amniote model systems. Güneş did her DPhil with Prof. Tatjana Sauka-Spengler at the University of Oxford studying gene regulatory networks in avian cranial neural crest cells and her postdoc with Prof. Robin Lovell-Badge at The Francis Crick Institute investigating ovarian pre-granulosa cell specification in avians and activation in mice.
Human reproductive ageing is sex-biased: only females experience the complete cessation of reproductive potential commonly known as the menopause. The WHO estimates that 26% of females globally are aged 50+ and therefore live with the considerable reduction in health quality and increased disease risk that menopause brings. In amniotes, the duration of this finite reproductive lifespan is dependent on (1) the number of ovarian primordial follicles formed during development and (2) their rate of depletion via folliculogenesis. Primordial follicles are the functional unit of ovaries and are comprised of an immature oocyte surrounded by a single layer of supporting pre-granulosa cells. The irreversible first step of folliculogenesis is primordial follicle activation - a transition of quiescent pre-granulosa cells into actively proliferative granulosa cells. Once activated, a primordial follicle must either mature to ovulation or be lost. In humans, it is estimated that for every 1000 activated primordial follicles only one egg is successfully ovulated. Despite being the critical first step to ovarian reserve depletion, ultimately resulting in the menopause, the signal initiating primordial follicle activation remains unidentified as are the mechanisms governing the rate of primordial follicle activation. Here, we will share our recent findings on the specification and activation of pre-granulosa cells and next steps on our mission to leverage this knowledge to better serve female health and fertility needs.
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